


Waking Up

by ambichromatic



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Cuddling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Mostly fluff though, Nightmares, sleeping, with a pinch of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:26:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24461980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambichromatic/pseuds/ambichromatic
Summary: a collection of drabbles about catra waking up
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 116





	Waking Up

Catra wakes up to movement beside her in the bed, and she groans softly.

“Adora? Wha-” Catra is cut off by an elbow hitting her in the face. The light movement from Adora has turned into violent thrashing and her forehead has beads of sweat rolling down it.

_ She’s sleep fighting  _ Catra realizes as Adora starts groaning. “Adora!” Catra yells and tries to shake Adora awake, earning her another hit in the face. She gently holds Adora's wrists in her hands to stop her from punching the air, as the blonde’s eyes finally flutter open. She briefly has a look of panic on her face, before she calms down at the sight of Catra staring down at her.

Then her eyes go wide again as she sees the bruise on her girlfriend’s face. “Catra!” she yells. “Oh my god, did I hurt you?”

Catra hurriedly lets go of Adora’s wrists and holds up her hands “No, no! I’m fine, it’s okay, it doesn’t hurt.”

Okay, that’s a lie, it does hurt a little. But calming Adora down is more important right now. And she does appear to be calmer. Good.

“What about you?” Catra asks. “Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?”

“I-” Adora looks away.

“You know you can talk to me about it,” Catra says and cups her face gently.

“It’s just- I keep having dreams that the war isn’t over. I know we’re finally at peace and I should be able to relax and enjoy our new life, but- I’ve been fighting my entire life. We all have. But it’s the one thing that I had for so long. My one purpose. I was always,  _ always _ , fighting something. Or some _ one,  _ and I can’t seem to let that go.”

Adora sighs. “Is that stupid of me?”

“No!” Catra says hurriedly. “No, of course it isn't stupid.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Adora, we were trained for war since we were  _ children _ . Of course all that isn’t going to go away overnight. Or ever maybe.”

Adora frowns.

“But!” Catra says. “I can help you… If you’d let me?”

Adora’s blue eyes are glistening slightly with tears. “You promise?”

“I promise.”

\---

_ You and Adora are back at Brightmoon, fighting. Throwing punches and kicks and you are hurting her, oh god you’ve hurt her. She’s hurt- she’s hurt and it’s all your fault, and- _

Catra wakes up screaming, and before realizing it she’s scrambled away from Adora and off the bed, and she’s staring at you with wide eyes in surprise. Oh no, Catra woke her  _ again _ . That’s the fifth time this week.

“Catra?” she says softly. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” Catra tells her, voice small, and all of a sudden she’s crying. 

“For what?” Adora asks, tilting her head to the side.

“For-” and Catra is sorry for so much that she doesn’t know what to say. “For hurting you.” 

“Oh no- Catra, it’s okay, I’m fine, you haven’t hurt me,” Adora touches Catras arm lightly, and she pulls it back by instinct, immediately regretting it. Adora offers her a small smile, and the way she looks at her makes her want to break down and cry all over again.

“Yes Adora, I have. I- I’ve hurt you so many times before, and- and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make up for it-” Catras sentence gets broken off by a sob, and now Adora's eyes are filled with tears as well. She brushes a strand of hair out of Catras face and gently cups her cheek. Catra lets her.

“We’ve hurt each other, Catra. I know that. But-” she swallows. “But we’re still here, right? “We have all the time in the world to make it up to each other. And I promise,” Adora makes sure Catra is looking at her “ _ I promise _ , that I will  _ never _ leave you again.” 

Catra buries your head in her shoulder. 

“I don’t deserve you,” she whispers. “I love you.”

Adora's arms tighten around her. “I love you too.”

The universe might have been saved, but that didn't mean everything would suddenly be perfect. The war ending didn't suddenly erase all the trauma the two of them have. But they have each other now. And that, Catra thinks, is all she’s ever needed.

\---

When Catra woke up moonlight was flooding through their Brightmoon window. She rolled over in bed to drape her arm over Adora, only to realize there was nobody in the bed beside her. 

Catra sat up straight, panic shooting through her. She looked around the room frantically, heart beating quickly in her chest. Then her ears perked up at a grunting noise seemingly coming from outside.

Pulling one of Adora’s shirt over her head, Catra walked onto their shared balcony to follow the noise. From there she could clearly see the source of the sound.

_ Adora. _

She stood in the garden of Brightmoon in her sleep clothes in the middle of the night, swinging a sword around. _ Did she get up in the middle of the night to train? Why? _

Catra groaned and went back to the room to put on some proper clothes before heading down to the garden herself.

“Adora, what the hell are you doing out here so late?”

The blonde jumped in surprise pointing her sword at Catra.

“Catra!” she yelled. “Oh, you startled me.”

She lowered the sword and gave a weak smile.

“You still haven’t answered my question, dummy.” Catra couldn’t help but smile despite herself.

Adora looked a little sheepish as she rubbed at the back of her neck. “Well,” she began. “I couldn’t sleep. I woke up and I tried to go back to sleep with you, I really did, but I had all this pent up energy inside that I just had to get out. Sooooo, I went out here. To sword fight.” She gave what she hoped to be a reassuring smile.

Catra just shook her head. “You know you can just wake me up if you’re having trouble sleeping, right?” Her smile turned into a smirk. “Maybe we could have done something else with all that ‘pent up energy’ of yours.”

Adora flushed red. “I-” she shook her head and sighed. “I didn’t want to wake you up, you looked so peaceful.” Now it was Adora’s turn to smirk. “Do you have any idea how cute you are when you’re sleeping?”

Catra blushed slightly. “You’re such an idiot.” Then she reached out her hand to Adora. “Come back to bed?”

Adora took it and gave a loving smile. “Of course.”

\---

Catra wakes up with a  _ desperate _ need to pee. 

Only there’s a small problem.  _ Someone _ is lying directly on top of her tail. And if this had been any other person, or perhaps any other time, Catra would have simply yelled at them and maybe given them a good scratch across the face for it, but this was  _ Adora _ . And Catra didn’t want to wake her. She couldn’t. 

Adora had barely gotten any sleep the last week, and she was finally resting peacefully, without sleep fighting or anything! Catra couldn’t disturb that for a simple need as peeing. 

So there she lies. Bladder full and tail squashed beneath Adora. 

_ It's fine. This is fine. _

\---

One night Catra simply can’t fall asleep and just lays in bed staring at the ceiling while Adora snores beside her. 

Catra's head is full of thoughts she can’t chase, and sleep will not come to her. So she carefully gets out of bed, making sure not to disturb Adora, and makes her way onto their balcony.

The cold night breeze is refreshingly cold on her face, and Catra lets out a content purr. She pearches herself on the railing, and simply sits staring at the full moon. It really is quite beautiful. And bright. She guesses this is why they call it Brightmoon.

“Hey, Catra,”

Catra jumps about 5 feet into the air, and her tail hairs stand on end at the sudden voice behind her. Adora’s soft giggle makes her calm down quickly, and an embarrassed blush covers her face. 

“Couldn’t sleep?” Adora asks, still smiling widely.

“No.” Catra mumbles. “I didn’t mean to wake you…”

“You didn’t.” Adora simply says and walks over to the railing beside Catra.

“That’s good, I think we struggle enough with sleep without waking each other.” 

Adora chuckles lightly again. “You’re right. I just couldn’t tonight. Too many thoughts in my head.”

“You too?”

Adora looks at Catra and nods.

“Well,” Catra throws a quick look at the moon. “Wanna watch the night sky and talk about your feelings?” Her tone is teasing, but the offer is sincere.

“Yeah,” Adora whispers and rests her head on Catra's shoulder. 

The two girls stay there long enough to watch the sunrise the next morning. 

\---

Catra wakes to a feeling of warmth. Her and Adora lay on their shared bed bathed in sunlight from their window after a peaceful night of sleep.

Catra smiles sleepily, stretches, and curls up to Adora lying stirring from sleep beside her. Neither of them wants to get up and face the day, content to just lay in each other's arms for a while. 

Adora's hand comes down to scratch behind Catras ears and she lets out a loud purr, nuzzling into Adora's neck.

"Mmmm, I love you," Catra sighs, voice thick with sleep.

"I love you too," Adora says, and kisses the top of Catras head.

She is sure, then, that she will be content as long as she can stay in Adora’s arms like this, no matter what the future might bring.


End file.
